Activist investor presses Ann Inc. to sell itself

DavidBenoit

Bloomberg News

An activist investor wants the parent of Ann Taylor to get off the discount rack and sell itself for full price.

Engine Capital LP, which along with a partner controls more than 1% of Ann Inc. stock, believes a strategic or private-equity buyer would be willing to pay between $50 and $55 a share for the women’s retailer, 47% above Friday’s closing price of $37.52 at the high end, according to people familiar with the matter.

The investors have been in talks with the retailer’s management for a few weeks but plan to launch a public campaign because they don’t believe the company is moving fast enough, the people said.

Engine Capital, which has successfully pushed for change at other women’s retailers, and hedge-fund partner Red Alder LLC believe Ann
US:ANN
could fetch around $2.5 billion, the people said.

Ann had a market capitalization of about $1.8 billion as of Friday. The retailer’s shares are up 2.6% this year, better than the S&P Specialty Retail Index it is part of, which is largely unchanged for 2014.

In a written statement, Ann said it was open to communications with its shareholders and that the board and management team were “committed to creating value” for all shareholders.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use. Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only. Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.